Students at Wildwood Middle, Shipley Elementary and Jefferson High schools will find new administrators in their buildings when they return to class Tuesday for the 2012-13 school year. Heather Boucher takes the reins at Shipley Elementary School on U.S. 340 East near Harpers Ferry, W.Va. She replaces Mark Osbourn, who retired after his election in May to the Jefferson County Board of Education. Patricia Brockway will be on board at Wildwood Middle School across from Jefferson High School on Flowing Springs Road.

By CLYDE FORD Staff Writer, Charles Town CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - The floats were modest but the spirits of those on them were high Thursday night for the first-ever Jefferson High School Homecoming Parade. The parade was open to all of the schools in Jefferson County and the clubs at the high school. Elementary school children in Halloween costumes rode on the back of pickup trucks or flatbed trailers, waving and smiling. Jefferson High football players piled into a haywagon barked out cheers, responding to the team captains in the truck pulling them.

by Kevin G. Gilbert / staff photographer click on image to see the enlargement CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - Meghan Lynch stopped at her locker between classes at Jefferson High School and loaded her backpack with the books that she would need for the rest of the school day and to take home at the end of the day. The pixie-like 16-year-old carries only the necessities - five books, about a dozen notebooks and folders and...

Is assault charge tough enough for girl's alleged e-mail threat? A Jefferson County, W.Va., high school senior, apparently upset because the date of this year's graduation had been changed, has been charged with misdemeanor assault for allegedly sending an e-mail with racial overtones to Larry Togans, a black man who is president of the county board of education. Two top officials of the NAACP say the incident called for more serious charges, but there's nothing to prevent federal officials from putting together their own case a month from now. Before that happens, defendant Sarah Elizabeth Turner may find that the publicity alone is more punishment than she could have imagined.

by Kevin G. Gilbert / staff photographer see the enlargement Injury-prone teen wants to help others heal CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - JaNece Reid, 17, has firsthand knowledge about sports injuries. She's broken bones and sprained joints while playing basketball and other sports. The Jefferson High School junior has spent enough time getting treated for her injuries to know she wants to help heal others. This summer, Reid will be joining about 350 other students from across the country at the National Youth Leadership Forum in Washington, D.C., to learn about careers in medicine.

Letters to the Editor 11/22 Don't skimp on testing To the editor: Interesting story about Jefferson High giving days off and exempting students from final exams for perfect attendance. According to your story, about a third of the enrollment benefitted. Alas, the mean board killed that program. It's remarkable how students and teachers try to avoid showing what they haven't learned. Teacher's unions lined up in record numbers to push Gore because Bush threatened to test them.

As hard as it is to believe, ESPN SportsCenter has it all figured out. In that hour-long, high-speed glut of information and highlights, one thing comes out - You can't be famous unless you have a nickname. The stars go by initials: KG is Kevin Garnett and MJ is Michael Jordan. Or maybe an alter-ego: Gary Payton is The Glove, Allen Iverson is The Answer. If you are really noteworthy, your first name will suffice: Shaq, Kobe or Barry. There are even the ones with the Snoop Doggy Dogg flavor, if you know what I mean: T-Mac (Tracy McGrady)

In 22 years as a football coach at Jefferson High, Mark Hash made his way to the visitors' sideline a few times -- usually to work the chains for JV games. Friday night, Hash returned to those sidelines as the coach of first-year Washington in the first matchup between the two Jefferson County schools, a game won 42-7 by Jefferson. The game capped a 2-8 first season for the Patriots, while the Cougars finished 4-6. Jefferson scored the final 28 points of the game. "It's a little different," admitted Hash, who worked as the team's defensive coordinator before taking over Washington.

The 2013 graduating class of Jefferson High School received their diplomas Saturday morning at Shepherd University's Butcher Center. More than half of the 296 students graduated with honors, with 40 summa cum laude, 56 magna cum laude and 55 cum laude graduates, guidance counselor Bill Blair said. With that high number of students receiving honors, “this makes this year's class outstanding,” Blair said. “What a special class - an incredible group of people,” Jefferson High School Principal Howard Guth said in his address.

Students at Wildwood Middle, Shipley Elementary and Jefferson High schools will find new administrators in their buildings when they return to class Tuesday for the 2012-13 school year. Heather Boucher takes the reins at Shipley Elementary School on U.S. 340 East near Harpers Ferry, W.Va. She replaces Mark Osbourn, who retired after his election in May to the Jefferson County Board of Education. Patricia Brockway will be on board at Wildwood Middle School across from Jefferson High School on Flowing Springs Road.

Anthony Cory Ham, a Jefferson High School senior, would have been the first in his family to graduate from high school if a tragic accident last month had not claimed his young life. Instead, his cap and gown were presented to his mother and other family members in an emotional ceremony at the beginning of Jefferson High School's 40th commencement exercises Sunday afternoon in Shepherd University's Butcher Center. Ham, 18, who died in late April when a gun he was handling accidentally went off, planned to move back to Indiana and pursue a degree in medicine.

The 165 Jefferson High School students enlisted in the Air Force Junior ROTC program marked the season of giving in a big way Wednesday, as they donated nearly $8,000 to buy new shoes and warm clothes for about 150 disadvantaged children in Jefferson County. It was the most money collected in any year since the cadets took up supporting the Jefferson County Shoe and Coat Fund in 2004. Over the seven years they have raised nearly $30,000, school Principal Howard Guth said. "Their commitment to this is incredible," Guth said.

The Miss West Virginia scholarship pageant title has returned to the Eastern Panhandle after a five-year hiatus. Spenser Wempe, 18, Miss North Eastern, was crowned Friday night at the pageant, which was held at The Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. Wempe, who grew up in Shepherdstown and Charles Town, W.Va., will represent West Virginia at the Miss America Pageant in Las Vegas in January. "It hasn't really sunk in yet," Wempe said Saturday after she returned to Martinsburg, where she currently lives.

View all of the photos for purchase! SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. -- Sierra Harmon, a Harpers Ferry, W.Va., senior who graduated summa cum laude from Jefferson High School on Sunday afternoon, is following her older sister to the same college in Idaho. Harmon was among 338 seniors who received diplomas in commencement exercises at the Butcher Athletic Center at Shepherd University. Harmon's sister is studying nursing, but Sierra plans to study social work because of her interest in psychology, she said.

SHENANDOAH JUNCTION, W.Va. -- Jefferson High School dismissed at 2 p.m. today due to a bomb threat, according to the Jefferson County Schools Web site . Law enforcement officials were investigating. "Please rest assured that all students and staff members are safe," the announcement said.

SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. -- Natalie Bonner Snyder, one of 380 Jefferson High School seniors who graduated Saturday in Shepherd University's Butcher Center, remembered her class' early days as freshmen. "Days and weeks went by and, before we knew it, we started to forget who was from Charles Town, Shepherdstown or Harpers Ferry and we simply became the Cougars of Jefferson High School," she said. Snyder, one of 134 seniors to graduate with honors, said in remarks to her class, "During our four years walking those halls, sitting in those classrooms and being with each other, we have had many accomplishments that have reflected the group we are and the individuals we have become.

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. --Â Jefferson High School's principal was charged with driving under the influence early Sunday in Jefferson County after a West Virginia State Police trooper clocked the man's car traveling 57 mph in a 45-mph zone and observed the car crossing the center line three times, according to the trooper, court records and school officials. William Howard Guth, 54, of 223 Old Middleway Road, Kearneysville, W.Va., was charged with first-offense DUI, speeding and driving left of center, according to a criminal complaint from Senior Trooper J.A. Meeks.